Four postal facilities in Florida are out of service as a result of Hurricane Charley. Five others on islands off the Florida coast haven’t been assessed yet by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, according to a USPS report.
The nonoperational facilities are Boca Grande, zip code 33921; Fort Myers Downtown, 33901; Punta Gorda, 33950; and Zolfo Springs, 33890. The Captiva Post Office isn’t yet accessible, according to the USPS report. The four other island post offices haven’t been destroyed, but postal inspectors haven’t yet been able to get inside to inspect them for damage.
Fort Myers, Lakeland, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Manasota plant operations are back to normal today. Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Captiva operations are still suspended, however, from the hurricane’s damages.
Power has been restored at all of central Florida’s major mail processing centers, and thousands of postal employees worked through the night to prepare Aug. 16’s mail for delivery. “We’re using every available resource to prove that Charley can’t stop the U.S. Mail,” spokesperson Pete Captain said in statement. “Our letter carriers will be delivering to every accessible address even if they work at a facility that is still without power.”
Because Hurricane Charley disrupted mail processing and transportation throughout Florida, postal customers should expect some longer-than-normal transit times, according to Captain. Along the storm’s path, all air and surface transportation came to a standstill. “Now we’re in a catch-up mode, using our transportation and processing capacities to the max to keep Charley’s effects to a minimum,” he added.